The Best Diaper Bag for Dads

What's the best diaper bag for dad? We tested eight top bags with masculine traits and rigorously tested their performance. Scored metrics include storage and ease of use, comfort, quality, and style. We also focused upon special features like changing pads, carry options, insulated pockets, and closures. While all of these bags constitute the cream of the crop, side-by-side, some clearly performed better than others. Read our review below for further details on which dad-oriented bags shone.

Analysis and Award Winners

Best Overall Diaper Bag

PacaPod Picos Pack

In our review, the PacaPod Picos Pack earned Editors' Choice. Simplistic with a clean and classy look, nice accessories, and a unique organizational system, it is easy to pack and use on a day-to-day basis. Dads will like the pods which makes items for diaper changes and feeding easily accessible. Its adjustable shoulder straps are padded with a chest clip for security making long days with a heavy pack easier with arms and hands free for baby. Though expensive at a list of $170, it is a quality bag likely to last for years. Watch out dad, mom will probably want to use it too.

Best Bang for the Buck

Boken Every Day Bag

The Boken Every Day Bag went from dark horse to Best Value in our dad diaper bag round-up at a list of $68. Compact and lightweight, it performs better than expected. It can MacGuyver quickly and easily from a shoulder bag to a messenger bag to a backpack. What this little gem may lack in accessories, it makes up for in versatility and organization. Available in a many colors, this is a perfect "go" bag for dad and baby.

The Diaper Dude Original Messenger Bag is a decent bag built better for dads of older children

Analysis and Test Results

A diaper bag is more than just a bag to carry your kid's stuff in. It serves a specific purpose. You have to think of it as a supply cabinet for all the things you will or even might need for your baby (and yourself) when you leave the house. For detailed information about choosing the perfect bag for dad's needs, take a peek at How to Select the Right Diaper Bag for Dad.

BabyGearLab's 2015 Dad Diaper Bag line-up. We tested 8 bags to see which would land on top.

Types of Diaper Bags

We spent several months testing tested three different styles of dad diaper bags:

Messenger — Popular trend for males worn cross-body

Backpack — Ergonomic leaving arms and hands free for baby

Convertible — Morphs from messenger to backpack to tote

Ultimately, a backpack and a convertible bag carried home awards.

Backpack

The Pacapod Picos Pack keeps your hands free so you can focus on the task at hand.

In our opinion, a backpack is most comfortable option dispersing weight across the shoulders and back. The best ones have nicely padded shoulder straps with chest clips and also venting in the back panel to minimize sweating. If positioned correctly, weight will be distributed evenly on the upper body which is key for any period of extended use. A huge benefit of wearing a backpack is that both arms are free for baby. Of note with a backpack, it can be difficult to keep belongings secure when in a large crowd or on packed public transit. So, this is something to consider.

Backpacks tend to excel in functionality and convenience but can suffer in style. While moms tend to prefer a diaper bag that can disguise as a purse, dads look for simple, monochromatic design, function, and comfort. In packs, we tested the PacaPod Picos Pack, the DadGear Backpack, and the Obersee Rio.

Messenger

The OiOi waxed canvas satchel is a great looking bag, we just wish it was easier to keep closed.

The dad diaper bag market is primarily saturated with messenger bags. While popular and stylish, they can be cumbersome and uncomfortable causing issues with muscular imbalance. Bending over can send a heavy bag swinging which is inconvenient to say the least. We often found ourselves needing to place a messenger down to properly care for little ones which can be tricky in a questionable public locale like a restroom.

A Note on Stroller Straps — Two of the bags in this review feature straps specifically for attachment to strollers, the Obersee Rio and Skip Hop Duo Signature. We do not recommend attaching a diaper bag to the back of a stroller as it can present risk of backwards tipping and serious injury.

Convertible

The convertible diaper bag for dads is definitely a niche that needs more variety in the current marketplace. Convertibles can be tricky; while they can accommodate for multiples modes of carry, sometimes beneficial features like padded shoulder straps are lacking. However, we did not find this to be the case with the one convertible bag in this review, the Boken Every Day Bag. It is so light that thick padding wasn't missed.

Performance Comparison

To find the best diaper bag for dad, we focused upon side-by-side comparison in the following areas: storage and ease of use, comfort, quality, and style.

Storage and Ease of Use

Storage and ease of use weigh most heavily at 40% of the overall score. We really compartmentalized here looking at many factors. When it comes to packing your diaper bag, you need to be strategic about what you carry and how you carry it. There is definitely a sweet spot; being over-prepared to the point of being overburdened is no good.

Organization, Access, and Capacity

A diaper bag with enough capacity to fit everything for a day's outing with dad or daycare is essential. However, the larger the bag, the more challenging it can be to manage, so efficient storage compartments pay off big. The right capacity coupled with useful organization is key. Top scoring bags provided for good organization of supplies and easy access to them. The PacaPod Picos Pack and OiOi Wax Canvas Satchel excel across the board. While the DadGear Backpack has great capacity, we found it a bit difficult in organization and access. However, the bottom of the barrel here is the Diaper Dude Original; although a pioneer in its field, compared to the others in our review, its pockets are poorly proportioned pockets and organization is limited.

The following is our "pre-flight" checklist of non-negotiable essentials for an outing with baby. Take a look at picking The Right Bag for Dad for more detailed information.

Here you can Pacapod's Changer Pod packed up along with the rest of a day's supplies inside the Picos Pack.

Dad's Stuff

Keys

Cell Phone

Wallet

Sunglasses

Water Bottle

Hand Sanitizer

Snacks

13" MacBook Air

Reading Material

Closures

We liked the high quality hardware and pulls on the Pacapod Picos Pack.

Location and types of closures are also important in a good diaper bag with preference for those where all compartments have sufficient enough closure so that if a bag upends, items won't fall out. We prefer zippers to velcro and magnets. Velcro on pockets can cause delicate fabrics to pill or tear and it's noisy. Magnets are often too weak to secure heavy or bulky loads. While zippers are the go-to method of closure, a quality zipper is important. Plastic ones break easily, toggles can separate, and zippers can become dislodged from their teeth.

Ease of Cleaning

Periodic cleaning and maintenance of a diaper bag is important. After all, it is a diaper bag. Day to day, both outside and inside will become dirty, germ-y, and crumb-filled. In "raspberry jam test". Most of the bags in this review could either be spot treated or wiped clean with only the Obersee Rio permitting hand washing with cold water. To see how well spot treatment went, we smeared jam on both the interior and exterior of each of the bags to see just how easy or difficult it was to clean the materials. They all did pretty well with the OiOi Wax Canvas Satchel being easiest and the Diaper Dude Original and DadGear Backpack being most difficult.

Extras

While all diaper bags come with a changing pad, we looked for nice extras such as insulated storage, wipes case, key clip, wet bag, feet at the bottom of the bag and special pockets for cell phone and sunglasses. Insulated storage is included in half of the bags in our review: the PacaPod Picos Pack, Obersee Rio, OiOi Waxed Canvas Satchel, and the Diaper Dude Messenger II. The PacaPod and OiOi definitely had the most perks, as would be expected for their higher prices, $70 dollars above the next tier of bags in this review.

Comfort

Comfort is key and composes 30% of the overall score in this review. Ultimately, the backpacks garnered higher comfort scores as they are easier to carry and put less strain on the body by evenly distributing weight. Messengers with a cross-body carry inherently do the opposite as when fully packed and heavy, they tended to cause muscle fatigue.

In general, the heavier a bag is when empty, the less comfortable it will be when fully loaded compared to a lighter bag, indeterminate of its carry style. Other key features that swayed this score up or down included:

Padding — Nice, thick padding on straps and back panels can mean the difference between a good and a bad day out with baby like with the PacaPod Picos (below left).

Material — Soft materials feel best on exposed skin and breathable waffling helps minimize sweating like that found in the Boken Every Day Bag's shoulder straps (below second to left).

Clips — With a backpack, a chest clip like that in the PacaPod is key in securing load to the back and shoulders. With messenger bags, an adjustment piece or attachment clip in the wrong spot on a the cross-body strap can really be a deal breaker. We found this to be the case with the Diaper Dude messenger bags (below second to right).

The Boken Every Day Bag at a mere 1.2 pounds excels in comfort with three utilitarian carry options (backpack, shoulder strap, tote) and soft nylon fabric. Our preferred mode was backpack with wide and waffled mesh straps that are comfortable distributing weight nicely across the shoulders and back. Because the bag is so lightweight, a chest clip isn't missed.

To the other extreme, the OiOi Wax Canvas Satchel is downright bulky with the heaviest empty weight in this review at 2.7 pounds. As a messenger, this weight was distributed to one side, feeling awkward. Bending over to pick up a child meant that the bag would swing forward simultaneously, a nuisance to say the least. It also scored poorest in comfort with a canvas cross-body strap with zero padding (above right).

Quality

The DadGear Backpack is robust and ready for hearty use with heavy polyester canvas fabric. Here, packed with all our gear and ready for a day out on the town with baby.

Quality comprises 15% of overall score in this review. A diaper bag is a workhorse and the right one ought to last years and be a one-time purchase. While quality is priceless, you don't need to break the bank to find a great bag. Ones with top notch quality are Editors' Choice PacaPod Picos Pack and DadGear Backpack with 8 of 10. Both of these bags are made with high quality, durable materials that last. Alternatively, the Diaper Dude Original received the lowest score with a 2 of 10. With a zipper pull that fell off almost immediately upon opening and polyester fabric that both looks and feels cheap, we were not impressed.

Style

Style is inherently subjective and we awarded it 15% of the overall rating for each bag. We had many men rate the bags side-by-side and took notice of current trends such as with the popularity of messenger bags. Once again, the PacaPod Picos Pack rose to the top with an 8 of 10. Its modern, sleek appearance resembles a nice piece of luggage rather than a youthful school backpack.

Conclusion

BabyGearLab's 2015 Dad Diaper Bag line-up. We tested 8 bags to see which would land on top.

When trying to find a diaper bag for dad, you want something that functions as well as any other bag, minus the flowers and polka dots and other feminine patterns. This tends to limit your options to a select few, but even then, it's hard to know which bag is really worth having. A diaper bag, for men and women both, is a product that should last throughout the duration of the diaper wearing years at least, so it's important to find a good one. We hope that our tests will help you narrow it down to the one. If you're not quite convinced, head over to our Buying Advice article to find out more.